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Do you ever get nightmares before surgeries/ procedures?
Nightmares have always unfortunately been part of what PTSD looks like for me. It is my brain’s way of showing me the things that I am most worried about. Whether I talk about these worries openly or not, they seem to pop up in the WORST way (when I’m asleep!).Last night I woke up to a dream about the anesthesiologist not giving me the right kind of anesthesia. The difficult reality about my fear and nightmares is that it usually is related to things that HAVE ACTUALLY HAPPENED. It’s not just some exaggerated thought in my mind that comes to life in my dream, it is usually a reality from an unfortunate incidence.
Who has experience with having nightmares or bad dreams before surgeries or procedures? What do you do to help you sleep if you have re-occurring dreams like this?
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11 Replies
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Brittany, as a caregiver I can tell you that I’ve struggled with nightmares. Especially before procedures or when balancing my son’s health with other family concerns, I often have a recurring dream. I’m “hanging” from a bridge and trying to hold save family members and even our things, from falling into the water. As dreams go…it’s often crazy and unrealistic but I still wake up feeling stressed.
Another dream I often have is about my “healthy” son. I’ve had so many nightmares over the years that while distracted with Cullen’s health, something happens to Aidan. I usually wake from this one in tears. The dreams are awful.
Are your nightmares different each time or do you also find yourself having the same kind of dream over and over? What my husband has encouraged me to do is to discuss the nightmares with him. He is really good at analyzing them and helping me sort out why I had the dream and if there is anything I can do in real life to sort it out. Do you discuss your dreams with anyone?
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Hey Brittany,
I too have dreams thar seem so real and vivid. That last with me a while after I wake up. It can be scary and especially in your case with PTSD. I know sometimes certain meds can make your dreams worse too. Have you tried falling to sleep with calming sounds. You can dowload an app on your phone that will let you pick differents moods like, rainfall, waterfalls, waves crashing in the ocean, rainforest and others. Sometimes calming sounds can help you sleep better due to redirecting your emotions. I really hope this helps and good luck on your procedure. I look forward to hearing back on your update after the procedure.
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@owensgirl1 thank you for the advice! I have used the calming type music or more of a meditation type video for falling asleep but then have to have someone shut it off once I am asleep. I end up getting the outside sounds incorporated into the dreams and it can actually end up making things a lot worse. I had this problem even when I was a kid too. It would just make the dreams more real and also harder to wake up from.
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@colleensteele that sounds awful and I also have dreams of being the one to protect others from harm or something bad from happening. I usually had dreams that I was the one saving family members from having something bad happen to them. A lot of times my dreams revolved around kidnapping and it was one of my biggest fears when I was a kid. Now the dreams I guess are more like flashbacks since they are things that have actually happened so it is more of a PTSD type response vs something that has a deeper rooted meaning to it psychologically.
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@brittany-foster I don’t know if it will help you but I often find that the tone of my dreams will reflect what I fell asleep watching on TV. Especially when I’m having trouble falling asleep I will turn the TV on to something that I’ve seen before so that it doesn’t hold my attention too much, and fall asleep to it. My husband will then turn off the tv for me. I don’t necessarily dream about what I was watching but they will at least be more peaceful.
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Hey Brittany,
Im sorry to hear that. I wish ik the best thing that could help with your situation. Do yo normally feel anxious or upset before you go to sleep? Ik when Im going through an anxiety attack I try and use a self help technique to refocus my thoughts by practicing mindfulness where you are livung in the moment to keep your mind from racing. It takes time to train your mind but it may help if you do that before bed and throughout the day. I don’t gave any experience when dealing with PTSD but I hope you find a solution that wirjs best fir you.
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It is normal to have nightmares or experience fear before surgery. We research the surgeon, the hospital, yet
We do not check this even meet or know who the person is that is responsible for putting us to sleep and waking us up. You have to trust the people responsible for your care.After 2 operations whereas, I woke up and heard the doctors discussing everything but my surgery, I realized that I need to inform
The anesthesiologist that I generally require more to go under and I am difficult to awake afterwards.I pray that God guides the doctors c hands and that the operation is a success. With PH ( PAH), I am unable to breathe laying flat on my back, so I have had critical eye surgery delayed.
I wanted to take the risk to fix the hole in my macular and hopefully restore my “central” vision. My primary care said NO, until they can improve my breathing. -
@colleensteele ((As I watch murder documentaries and finding a killer on Netflix) hahahahaha! And this is why I’m crazy LOL
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@colleensteele but in NON murder documentary news, I started watching the show Love Is Blind and it is so addicting ! Have you started or did you hear about this one? I really like the concept of it and it will be interesting to follow their stories to see how far they go with it.
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@owensgirl1 yes, meditation has really helped with my anxiety. I generally don’t have anxiety every day or every nigh before bed. I am pretty much just “average” and deal with my emotions how anyone else would be expected to deal with them given the situation I am in. So I have pretty typical responses to every day stress and anxiety. The thing that triggers me is just PTSD that gets triggered right before or right after the even happens. I do a lot of mental dissociating during the actual event so before and after it’s as if my body is trying to prepare and catch up with what happened.
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@jimi it definitely is a normal response but it is one that I wish we didn’t have to go through ! You are right that we need to trust and put our trust in the team that is caring for us but sometimes that is so challenging. Especially when the surgeons and team don’t exactly know us and know what is best for us. This is why I always take my pre op appointments so seriously and if one is not scheduled I usually request one due to my extensive history and protocols. They usually don’t argue with that once they see my list of medical conditions all written out.
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